RosieCotton Posted February 24, 2016 Share Posted February 24, 2016 I bought these for my son in first grade a few years ago to help him get his third finger off the top of his pencil. He has eye issues as well and it was no shock this was hard for him. http://www.amazon.com/Pencil-Grip-Assorted-Bright-TPG-17550/dp/B00CKGO1VG/ref=sr_1_30?ie=UTF8&qid=1456343384&sr=8-30&keywords=pencil+grip It worked for the first year. Now he is putting his third finger on top again. EVEN OVER THE GRIP. Or he pushes the grip up high to bypass it. He's a leftie. My other son has somehow started rolling his thumb up and over the top of the pencil too and pushing his index finger down which I've never seen before (he is 3rd grade), and he is now fighting me on correction. So now I need to correct him too. :cursing: -- He wasn't doing that before an had perfect grip. He has tried the above grip and of course doesn't like it at all. :smash: Please help! I am so frustrated with this everyday reminding them and sounding like a NAG. I'm seriously ready to buy them the big giant Pre- K pencils again and just START the heck OVER. What a failure! Oh - we tried a large pom pom inside the fist someone mentioned that in a thread somewhere. To gentle up their grip. We've just started that. (I've seen our cousins from PS 3 out of 4 with wrong grips and I don't care -- I want my kids to have the correct ones.) Other grips to try or do?? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
smarson Posted February 24, 2016 Share Posted February 24, 2016 We used the same ones you have. I also have a couple of those old school triangular ones that just slide over the pencil but are just a triangle for the three fingers to hold correctly. Perhaps this would be a different solution? It would be a bummer to have to buy a whole package though. I managed to find them at a school supply store at the checkout stand and purchased only one. My kids didn't enjoy any of the grips but they were effective at training them to hold the pencil correctly. I say just stick with it? It's frustrating but consistency is the key. Sorry I don't have better advice. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Miss Tick Posted February 24, 2016 Share Posted February 24, 2016 Have you tried a different grip? If you add Grotto or Claw, you get done other styles. That might cause the little people to dig in their heels deeper, though. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RosieCotton Posted February 25, 2016 Author Share Posted February 25, 2016 Thanks - I'll look into the triangle thing. Just so super frustrating folks. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stellalarella Posted February 25, 2016 Share Posted February 25, 2016 http://theanonymousot.com/2013/03/22/when-to-fix-a-pencil-grasp/ I'm just offering up this link because it is such a thorough look at grasp. I think it gives a good perspective on why a kid might not have a good grasp, that is is worth fixing, or when you can not worry. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
J-rap Posted February 25, 2016 Share Posted February 25, 2016 What does his handwriting look like? Does his hand get sore? My ds holds a pencil in the strangest way I've ever seen. After years of fighting it, I finally just let it be. He is now in his 20's, still holds it strangely, but it presents no problem at all. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RosieCotton Posted February 25, 2016 Author Share Posted February 25, 2016 http://theanonymousot.com/2013/03/22/when-to-fix-a-pencil-grasp/ I'm just offering up this link because it is such a thorough look at grasp. I think it gives a good perspective on why a kid might not have a good grasp, that is is worth fixing, or when you can not worry. Thank you for this link -- very informative. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RosieCotton Posted February 25, 2016 Author Share Posted February 25, 2016 What does his handwriting look like? Does his hand get sore? My ds holds a pencil in the strangest way I've ever seen. After years of fighting it, I finally just let it be. He is now in his 20's, still holds it strangely, but it presents no problem at all. The oldest has very nice handwriting, both manu and cursive. The younger shows signs of fatigue because he has a closed off grip. After reading the above link, I guess I should be more worried about the younger now. He will be so thrilled. :) 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Arcadia Posted February 25, 2016 Share Posted February 25, 2016 My DS11 has a sensory issue to any pencil grip. His preschool did teach how to hold the pencil correctly. Then he imitate the picture I printed for holding a pencil when he forgets. His K teacher taught correctly too. We have been lucky with Ps teachers. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kiwik Posted February 25, 2016 Share Posted February 25, 2016 My kids both had perfect grips when they started school at five and both now don't. For the older have you tried the InkJoy triangular ballpoint pens? It might feel less baby like than a triangular pencil. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
displace Posted February 25, 2016 Share Posted February 25, 2016 Crossover grips may help (similar to grotto). We use "ergonomic" ones. Similar to the grips you posted but a bit larger and squishy. They are comfortable. Different kids may prefer different grips, but some help specifically to prevent folding over of grip. I heard an OT (occupational therapist) state that grips are not usually successfully changed after age 8-ish? At that point it's working to modify or help with comfort, but I'm not an OT. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
maize Posted February 25, 2016 Share Posted February 25, 2016 (edited) I talked to the occupational therapist at our local elementary school about my dd's thumb wrap grip and he said it really isn't a big deal and that kids usually settle on a grip that works for them. I've since started paying attention to how the adults around me write and grip variations are quite common. My vote is to let it go. Edited February 25, 2016 by maize 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RosieCotton Posted February 25, 2016 Author Share Posted February 25, 2016 thank all for your thoughts -- today we spent 15 minutes talking about the open formation, we put a large pom pom inside our "cave", and worked on keeping our cave open. For the younger we focused on keeping the thumb under the index finger and made a game of it. He did great. It went better than I thought, and we will keep working on it. I won't freak on it, but we will keep working on it for now as I can see it is hindering my youngers writing skill altho only a little bit. Thanks!! 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EmilyGF Posted February 25, 2016 Share Posted February 25, 2016 It looks like you've solved your problem, but just in case... I use the soft grips with my 7-year-old. She hates them, but I tell her she only needs to use them if I have to remind her a few times during the day to fix her grip. Because she dislikes them so much, that is generally motivation enough to get her to fix her grip, though she still has to use them sometimes. Emily Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RosieCotton Posted February 25, 2016 Author Share Posted February 25, 2016 Thanks Emily, no I would not say I've solved it. I'll have to remind them and continue to push gently on this for awhile I'm sure. The more advice the better. !! I have stubborn kids. They want to do things how they want to do them. Today was just a good day. :) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Homeschoolmom3 Posted February 26, 2016 Share Posted February 26, 2016 To make you feel better....FWIW, my sister is a kindergarten teacher and I was worried about my youngest making sure grip and all letters were formed per say. But she said that as long as they are legible, it is not even stressed anymore! Could believe that, I think after lots of trying in the end it might just not be worth it! Good luck! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
clementine Posted February 26, 2016 Share Posted February 26, 2016 What does his handwriting look like? Does his hand get sore? My ds holds a pencil in the strangest way I've ever seen. After years of fighting it, I finally just let it be. He is now in his 20's, still holds it strangely, but it presents no problem at all. ^ This. Our youngest has always had the most bizarre grip - we tried the triangle thingy and one a different one. She just coudn't make them work for her. Her handwriting isn't terrible, she is now an 11th grader and she's fine with it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
OnMyOwn Posted February 27, 2016 Share Posted February 27, 2016 I could never get my dd to hold a pencil properly, though I tried and tried. She's 14 and still holds her pencil in the weird way she did in K. But, it hasn't caused any problems with her handwriting or anything. She has beautiful cursive and okay print, but she also types a lot. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mom2Five Posted February 27, 2016 Share Posted February 27, 2016 (edited) My dd9 holds her pencils with her middle finger with the...uh..pointer finger and then just has the other two resting underneath as opposed to having the three fingers underneath the way the perfect pencil grip is supposed to be. I tried in K to correct her but honestly there is no correcting it. That is how she wants to hold her pencil and her handwriting is neat. My dd6 on the other hand holds her pencil with a full fist grasp which needs to be worked on. She has other learning delays an im trying to get her into OT for this specific one. In the meantime I ordered the crossover pencil grip. She can write like that for a few minutes but it is very uncomfortable for her. In doing research for dd6 I came across a lot of links of people that held their pencil like dd9 as normal. Oops posted before I was finished. If its not a full fist grip and their handwriting is neat I think id just leave it alone. Im of course not an expert though. Edited February 27, 2016 by Mom2Five Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HeatherL Posted February 27, 2016 Share Posted February 27, 2016 http://theanonymousot.com/2013/03/22/when-to-fix-a-pencil-grasp/ I'm just offering up this link because it is such a thorough look at grasp. I think it gives a good perspective on why a kid might not have a good grasp, that is is worth fixing, or when you can not worry. That is a great article, thank you for sharing it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stellalarella Posted March 1, 2016 Share Posted March 1, 2016 (edited) Someone please tell all those folks hawking video products about proper golf club grasp that it doesn't matter. I'm telling you, the earth was hit by some alien-handwriting-grip ray-gun about 1980 because people born before then seem to be able, by and large, to properly grasp a pencil and the poor dears coming after seem frequently doomed. But maybe the crazy-grip-rays were just aimed at America. It would be fascinating to find out if students in other countries don't struggle so much. I can't think of one person I know over the age of 45 who has a strange handwriting grasp. Edited March 1, 2016 by Stellalarella 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RosieCotton Posted March 1, 2016 Author Share Posted March 1, 2016 Funny stuff Stella!! And kinda true . .! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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